MUMBAI (Commodity Online): The Indian rupee commenced August on a strong note adding gains from an improving euro overseas and positive start to the domestic equities.
The domestic currency opened slightly stronger by almost 15 paise at Rs, 44.04 per dollar on Monday, August 01, 2011 alongside positive regional peers. Rupee hit a high of 44.03 and edged down to a low of 44.12 so far during the day.
In the spot currency market, the Indian currency was last seen trading at 44.09, higher by around 10 paise or 0.22% as compared to previous close at 44.19
The key benchmark indices gained in early trade on firm regional stocks. Asian stock markets jumped on Monday after U.S. President Barack Obama announced a framework debt-limit deal ahead of Tuesday's deadline. President Barack Obama on Sunday announced a last-minute deal to raise the U.S. borrowing limit and avoid a catastrophic default and he urged lawmakers to "do the right thing" and approve the agreement.
FIIs sold Indian shares worth a net Rs 464.03 crore on Friday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 411.82 crore on that day. At the time of writing, India's key benchmark BSE Sensex is up 152.30 points at 18349.50 while S&P CNX Nifty is higher by 49.30 points at 5531.30.
Meanwhile, the euro was improving slightly against the greenback and was currently seen quoting at 1.4392 after having hit a low of 1.4228 on Friday. The US dollar index which measures the performance of the U.S. unit against a basket of six currencies is down 0.10% at 73.82.
Among Asian currencies, the Taiwan dollar is higher 0.18% at 28.81, the South Korean won up 0.46% at 1049.25 and the Indonesian Rupiah gained 0.35% at 8474.38 as against the US dollar.
In the domestic currency futures market on the NSE, the front month 26 August-2011 contract opened on Monday at 44.28, higher than spot market rupee. The contract hit an intraday high at 44.31 and registered a low at around 44.23 so far during the day. Meanwhile, euro- rupee contract is up 0.60% at 63.70 from 63.32 in the previous session.
The JPY/INR contract lost 0.17% to 57.10 from 57.20 while the GBP/INR contract added 0.67% at 72.82 from 72.33 at close on Friday. At the time of writing, the NSE as well as MCX August 2011 USD/INR contract was trading at around 44.30, down around 13 paise or 0.30% as compared to previous close at 44.43.
